The Los Angeles Kings and new head coach Peter Laviolette have some very legitimate concerns on the roster going into the upcoming 2026-27 season and whether this team can be a Stanley Cup contender. Adrian Kempe's new contract shouldn't be one of those concerns.
In a piece from earlier this offseason where The Hockey Writers selected the worst contract for all 32 NHL teams this summer, they picked Kempe's newly signed eight-year contract extension for the Kings' worst contract.
The Hockey Writers' argument mostly centers around the direction of the Kings' franchise. After five straight first-round postseason exits, the concern is whether committing over $10 million annually to Kempe in his 30s makes sense for a team whose competitive window in the Western Conference is increasingly uncertain.
Adrian Kempe's production makes this criticism difficult to justify
In this past few years, Kempe has established himself as the most reliable offensive weapon the Kings have. He's registered back-to-back 35-goal and 70-point regular seasons for the Kings (since the 2024-25 season). And he's been one of the most consistent producers on special teams on the power play for the Kings.
Kempe's contract for the Kings should also be viewed in the context of the rising salary cap around the NHL. With the recent raising of the NHL salary cap and that trend expected to continue in the coming years, Kempe's contract that pays him just north of $10.5 million in average annual value for the next eight years probably won't look as bad for the Kings.
Maybe the weirdest part of The Hockey Writers labeling Kempe's contract deal as the worst on the Kings' roster is that the extension hasn't even officially kicked in yet. The first year of Kempe's new contract begins this upcoming season, meaning that Kempe hasn't even played a single game under the deal that The Hockey Writers is criticizing in this article.
If the Kings ultimately need to undergo a rebuild in the next few years, that would be a legitimate problem for Holland and the front office to navigate going into the future. But that doesn't really mean that Kempe's contract can retroactively be viewed as a mistake.
Franchises still need elite players to build around, and keeping Kempe around for the long term in Los Angeles was a major priority for the Kings' front office this past regular season. Kempe also did virtually everything the Kings could have asked of him entering the first year of his new contract this fall.
We don't know yet if the final eight years of Kempe's new contract will age perfectly. Still, that's a risk that the Kings' front office was able to accept when they kept one of their top players from entering unrestricted free agency this summer.
Nonetheless, calling Kempe's contract the worst on the Kings' roster before the extension has even begun is a bit of an atrocity. With Kempe coming off a 36-goal and 73-point regular season this past year, this feels like much more of a criticism of the Kings' direction rather than feedback on the contract itself.
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